Self Employment

I made my very first meme! Haha, I couldn't help it!

"Self Employed"

TreeCricket.etsy.com

A Handsome Treasury

"Man Cave"

Here's an Etsy treasury I curator featuring some extremely handsome man cave necessities!

(Just click the pic to have a closer looksie!)

Happy weekend, y'all!

Stay Motivated!

May your week be full of PURPOSE & PRODUCTIVITY!

Happy Monday, Crickets!

A DIY Cardboard Cottage

My twin nieces turned THREE this week! 

I decided to go with a "simple" gift this year. 

"I'll get them a huge cardboard box!" I said. "Oh, ya know... I'll just cut out a door and a window or 2 and call it good."

Well... I may or may not have gone wonderfully overboard. . . . .

I think I had way more fun making this than they're even going to have playing in it! Everything I used, I already had lying around the house, so making this was basically free.

First I cut out windows and doors (with a knife, yikes!) and reinforced all of the edges with duct tape.  

I covered the box inside & out with white banner paper and bordered the windows and doors with Trader Joe's grocery bags.

Tuffy helped, of course. 

I covered the door with baby blue poster board and added some flowers to the windows (from scrapbook paper I had) and a wreath to the door (cut out of old clothes).

The roof I made from two pieces of foam board. I layed them flat and duct taped them down the middle on the inside so they would easily bend. To hold the roof up I duct taped two small pieces of extra foam board to the center (it's amazing what duct tape can do.) The shingles are cut out rows of a cardboard box and connected with hot glue. (After this project, I've been finding hot glue strings everywhere!)

And, of course, I added a pink "F" and purple "V" for Felicity & Viviana!

This project took me about 4 full days, but it was worth every second. 

"Knock Knock! Anybody home?!"

Merry Halloween!

It is a PERFECT October day, friends! The trees in Nashville have finally changed - red, orange, yellow, brown. It's been drizzly and crisp, and the leaves are gently falling, caught up in a breeze, swirling & twirling in the atmosphere. (Sorry to get all sentimental... I just love this weather, and it is completely appropriate for a spooky Halloween!)

Merry Halloween, all! Meow!

Flea Market Adventures - DIY Booth Display

Last weekend, Noffy and I participated in our first ever Flea Market... and let me tell you, it was an adventure. 

Firstly, allow me to preface with this - we had a blast and we really, really enjoyed ourselves and we WILL be doing it again this weekend. We met a handful of awesome folks - both customers and fellow sellers. And we made a few bucks. But their were certainly some obstacles. 

I spent all of Thursday before the market setting up the above layout in our living room. It was nice to be able to visualize everything before we got there, and it gave me a handle on my inventory (which I had really lost control of.) I think the set-up looked pretty snazzy, but it was fairly difficult to transfer it all from our apartment to the flea market. The loading and unloading was simply exhausting - from hauling everything down the apartment stairwell, to puzzle-piecing everything into the Subaru, to unloading into the booth, and then all over again once the weekend was through. We woke up Monday feeling like we had been mauled by a grizzly bear. 

But every problem has a solution. After some brainstorming and some heavy Pinteresting, we began to create a more portable booth display. 

This is the first of the displays Noffy will make (I say "Noffy" because, let's be honest, I can't do that Bob the Builder magic.) Each part is connected by a bolt and nut, allowing us to take it apart and easily transfer it into the car. 

The purses are simply hung by nails, which I think adds a great rustic vibe (and also hardly cost a thing.) All together, making this display cost about $35 - thanks Home Depot for your cheap wood!

Noffy will be making a smaller version of this display to hang our belts. Can't wait!

We'll be at the Nashville Farmers Market again this weekend selling these lovely purses and belts, so come by and say hello!

It's Autumn, guys.

As of last Sunday (my 25th birthday), it is officially AUTUMN, and I could not be more pleased to sport jeans and sweaters yet again. It's not quite scarf-weather, but believe you me, as soon as it hits 55 degrees, I'm pulling those babies out of the back of the closet. 

Happy Fall, my friends :)

Gonna close my eyes.

Sometimes you just need a boost.

An inspirational shove.

A coaxing into getting your creative shit done.

Sometimes you just need to have coffee with a friend.

Sometimes you just need to write a poem.

Sometimes you just need to snuggle with some one.

Sometimes you just need to take a long fucking walk to nowhere.

Sometimes you just need to say "fuck."

Sometimes you just need to throw things. Or paint with your hands.

Sometimes you need to stop and take a deep breath.

Sometimes you need to stretch your arms up to the sky and let the sun give you a fat hug.

Sometimes you need to jump into the ocean in your underwear.

For the love of God, sometimes you need to pick up your guitar and write a damn song!

Sometimes you need to rest.

But mostly you need to keep yourself occupied.

Sometimes you need a cold beer in the cold air with your best friends on a dirt road at midnight.

Sometimes you just need to stop thinking so hard about it and just go for it.

Sometimes you need to just close your eyes and create.

Create something!

Sometimes you need to believe in yourself a little bit more than you do.

Sometimes you need to give yourself credit for.........

..........sometimes you just need to give God credit... for once.






Good night.

Quicky

Ick. Almost a year since I've blogged. Shame on me.
Let's see... all the wonderful things that have occurred this year... well...

I graduated college (yay!!!)

I got married! (YAYYY!!!)

And I moved to Nashville with my hubby!

Meh.

Nearly 3 in the morning and I have almost no intention of falling asleep anytime soon, though I'm exhausted.

Just sinking into a deep, dark, hallow abyss; not sure when I'll find the motivation to snap the fuck out of it. Maybe later. Everything's maybe later. Homework? Maybe later. Dinner? Maybe later. Bed? Maybe later. Wake up? Maybe later. I went about a month without doing any laundry. I finally did it, but right now I'm just staring at the bin of clean, unfolded clothes, apathetically accepting the fact that, no, they will never get put away, and I can just rummage out of the hamper for a few weeks until I find it absolutely necessary to wash them again.

I tried writing tonight and all I ended up doing was figuring out a few songs on the piano. Which was actually not the worst thing; "Laughing With" by Regina Spektor. "I'll Catch You," and "Montana" by Rocky Votolato. "I'll Catch You" tears my insides up.

I have my senior guitar recital in two weeks.... HAA!!!! What a good joke to play on myself.

Yeaaah. Graduation can not come soon enough.

Dear Me, I would really enjoy for you to be over this little phase you're going through. Call me when you're ready to gtfu. Thnx. Lisa

Senioritis

Someone... anyone... please motivate me to get up off my ass and finish undergrad like a champ. Thanks.

In order to avoid annoying the crap out of Facebookers and Tweetsters by over-posting about wedding planning, I hath created a blog into which I can pour my excitement.

http://coffeeandmatrimony.blogspot.com/

Subscribe if you wish, ignore if you like :)

(P.S. I will still be updating this blog. No worries.)

Joe and Matrimony

I have a short paper due tomorrow on a topic I am yet undecided on, and therefore haven't started writing. So of course, I'm blogging.

A few updates of life (if you're at all interested):

One, I'm sipping about my 5th cup of coffee in a month. For no particular or intentional reason, I've been drinking a lot of green tea lately and haven't communed much with good ol' Joe as regularly as last semester. I must say, this cup is pretty muddy, and I think I needed it; not for the energy, but for my soul. Probably not unrelated to my random hankering to blog, either.

Secondly, I got my grades back from the last 20 credit semester... Eight A's and two B's. Woop woop! Getting ready to start an 18 credit semester next week, 7 credits in the Summer, and I am DONE! Take THAT, college! (We'll see if I feel this feisty at finals... better yet, mid terms.)

Third: I got a bread maker! (No real back story, I'm just stoked.)

Lastly, and certainly NOT least... I'm engaged! As of the day of my last post, actually... I won't get into all the juicy details here... you want 'em, you can ask. But I've been a woman on a mission to get the big bizznass out of the way before semester starts. Sooooo... in last week we booked the ceremony, booked the reception, picked out bridesmaids dresses, AND bought a dress... among planning other microdetails that we've yet to execute. This weekend we're finalizing the guest list. I have to say, I'm loving the planning process so far, and I'm looking forward to sharing this celebration with all our friends and family. I'm thinking about starting a little side blog on the wedding planning... I really want to avoid being that person; you know what I mean... that girl who only and always talks about her wedding. So I figure I can outlet it in a blog, and people can choose not to read it if they're uninterested.

Short and sweet tonight. I've gotta get back to Academia Land. Wish me luck.

(P.S. Check out Hawk in Paris. Listening to them currently on Spotify. Purr-ty catchy.)

Fun Fact #384

So, I go out into public from time to time. I know. I know. Shocking. As dangerous as this activity is, for certain, it's a kind of hobby of mine...

...Anywho, so, more occasionally than not, there's a situation I find myself in when I am out in a public place that I can't help but laugh at. I'm trying to formulate a way to explain it so it doesn't sound... creepy. But I'm having a brain fart, so I'll state it bluntly:

Little girls love me.

I'm serious. If I'm out somewhere, and there's a little girl, usually ages 2-7, that I've never seen in my life, 8 out of 10 times that little girl will end up next to me, playing hide-and-seek from behind a chair, or telling me all about her American Girl doll collection and pet lizards, as if she's known me all her little life. And I don't do anything to provoke it; no initiated conversation or bribery of tootsie pops. They just find me!... like a magnet. It's weird.

Have you ever seen The Santa Claus? Remember that scene when Tim Allen is at his son's soccer game and that little girl just determinatively marches over to him, sits down next to him, and keeps inching toward him, finally ending up on his lap as comfortable as can be, telling him what she wants for Christmas? Yeah. That's pretty much what happens to me, minus the whole Santa thing.

This is a very random thing to tell you all, I know. But I'm at the airport in St. Lou, and a little two year old girl wanders over to me and starts playing that cute little peak-a-boo game, where all you have to do is look at her and look away about twice and she's just giggling like crazy, and my heart starts melting all over the place. Not the first, nor last, time this will happen. I guarantee.

Anyway, enjoy that little awkward fun fact, bloggers. I'm gonna go fall asleep somewhere till my next flight.

Short, sweet, and a little bit lazy.

So, here it is, Christmas Eve 2011. And here I am, laying in bed past noon for the 3rd day in a row. It's wonderful.

This past semester was a success. 3.80 and I'm officially exhausted. Spring semester, here I come!

I've been doing a lot of nothing since I've been home for the holidays. My sister/bro-in-law and their twin baby girls are here visiting and it's been amazing spending time with them :) Those little girlies (they're one year old) are so bright and cute!

Being home with friends and family is refreshing, it really is, but I'm glad it's only for a short time and then I can leave again. This place is home in the sense that I grew up here and loved ones are here, but this is no longer where my soul fits. There's a fog over me when I'm here, I suppose. A good fog that makes you want to curl up with a cup of tea and read a book, but ends up keeping you inside much longer than you'd prefer (all metaphorically speaking if course. It's rather sunny outside right now).

I do love it here. But I look forward to getting back to the Mid West :)